The present invention relates to the placement of connectors on the frame of electronic devices.
More specifically, the present invention relates to a device comprising a hollow frame, for example of parallelepipedic general shape, forming an enclosure, at least two electronic circuits placed inside the enclosure, and at least first and second connectors to connect each an external cable to each of the electronic circuits, each of the first and second connectors comprising a base intended to be mounted on the frame and a plug capable of being inserted into the base, the plug being connected to the cable and the base being connected to the electronic circuit. The cable can be a cable intended to convey electrical signals, then called electrical cable, or a cable intended to convey optical signals, then called optical cable.
The bases of the connectors are generally fixed on an end wall of the frame, for example on the rear wall of the frame. Apertures dimensioned accordingly are made in this wall to accommodate the two bases. If the bases are of rectangular general shape and have widths L1, L2 and heights H1, H2, respectively, apertures of corresponding dimensions are made in the wall. These two apertures can be adjacent and form a single aperture.
A technical problem arises when it is not possible to make these apertures in the wall because of a lack of space, for example when the height of the wall is less than H1+H2 and when the available width of available wall for the connectors is less than L1+L2
This case is illustrated by FIGS. 1 and 2. These figures represent a frame 1 containing multiple electronic circuits, for example a motherboard 10, express PCI boards 11 and redundant power supplies 12. All the connectors of these electronic circuits are mounted on the rear wall 13 of the frame. The connectors reserved for the motherboard 10 and for the express PCI boards 11 are mounted on the hatched part 130 (FIG. 2) of the rear wall and the connectors reserved for the two redundant power supplies are to be mounted on the non-hatched area, referenced 131, of the rear wall 13. The area 131 has a height H and a width L. Two connectors 2 and 3, for example of the IEC 320 type, are to be mounted in area 131 to connect two cables 4 and 5 to the two power supplies 12. Each of the connectors 2 and 3 comprises a base, 21 and 31, respectively, and a plug, 22 and 32, respectively, intended to be inserted into the base. The bases 21 and 31 respectively have as dimensions H1×L1 and H2×L2 as indicated previously. In the illustrated case, since the two connectors are identical, of the IEC 320 type, we have L1=L2 and H1=H2. Moreover, the diameter of the cables 4 and 5 of circular cross-section is equal to D.
As indicated above, a problem arises when the area 131 is not large enough, in particular when H1+D<H<H1+H2 and L1+D<L<L1+L2. There is not then enough space to fit the connectors 2 and 3 in this area of the wall.
A solution could consist in not fixing the connectors on the rear wall of the frame and in placing them outside of the frame, their bases being connected to the redundant power supplies 12 by two cables passing through one or two aperture(s) which would be made in the area 131 of the wall. Another solution could also consist in fixing only one of the two connectors in the area 131 of the wall and in placing the other connector outside of the frame, the base of this connector being connected to one of the redundant power supplies by a cable passing through an aperture made in the area 131. However, these two solutions are not satisfactory since the presence of at least one of the connectors outside of the frame increases the risk of untimely disconnection of the latter and could impede the frame handling, in particular when the frame is to be placed in the compartment of an electrical cabinet or is to be removed from such a compartment.